@brentwoodmom Lots of good places to eat around Duke. Glad you have a list. If Mad Hatters isn’t on your list, consider stopping in there even if just for a quick coffee break. It’s right across from east campus (where the freshman are housed) and many of the students are around that area. Have fun and do try to go to Duke Gardens, if time permits.
While in SC , you may want to consider a trip to College of Charleston . Their Honors College is great and your son would most likely be eligible for some substantial merit.
http://honors.cofc.edu/our-academics/the-summer-institute.php
http://today.cofc.edu/2016/08/22/cofc-class-of-2020-profile/
gosh he’s a 10th grader, let him live a bit
We started to visit colleges when our kids were in 10th grade…but we combined those early visits with family vacation things as well.
Took son to visit Wake Forest twice–once for regular tour and once for an admission interview. Great Accounting program. But he was very turned off by emphasis on Greek life. Much preferred Univ of Richmond, in terms of smaller southern schools. Also enjoyed visiting Elon. While he had looked forward to visiting Duke, the tour was disappointing. The guide’s vibe was, you’re not going to get in here, so I’m not going to spend much time selling you on the school.
We visited Richmond once, and Wake Forest, Duke and UNC more than once. They are all great schools but are all very, very different. What’s nice about starting in the Carolina’s is that you have a chance to visit so many different types of schools.
@nshheh Actually it’s a very smart idea to start getting an idea of what your kid might be interested in and where they want to go in terms of geography starting in 10th grade. We have a D in the same grade and will try to see some schools this year, because we know when she’s a junior there will be many more to see in different parts of the country. You can’t travel to different parts of the country in one year without feeling pressured. This is especially important when you might want to pick an ED school the beginning of senior year. I think in 10th grade it should be all about seeing what appeals to your kid, not necesarily finding their dream school. Do they like the city or country, big or small. The South? The midwest? Also, I have read that summer visits can be a waste, so that leaves you even less time for visits.
@twogirls can you say how U of RIchmond and Wake are different? On paper they look kind of similar.
I think UR and WF are definitely more alike to one another than they are to Duke and UNC, but we found some differences between the two. If I remember correctly ( I may be wrong), UR has a smaller student population than WF. The two biggest differences for me were the style of dress - many of the boys at UR ( on the tour and on campus) were dressed up on the day we were there- as in many wore dress pants with a sport jacket. We did not see that at WF and it may not be something that happens regularly at UR, but it definitely happened on the day we were there and my D did not love it. Not that it’s bad- it’s just not for her. The boys in her current school definitely dress much nicer than what we are used to, but not sport jackets ( am I using the right word? I am not very familiar with men’s clothing lol). Secondly, although neither school is very diverse, UR - on the day we were there- displayed very little diversity and this prompted two parents to actually ask questions about it while on the tour.
I want to add that UR is a wonderful school with one of the most gorgeous campuses I have ever seen. It was too small for my daughter so it was crossed off the list. She did like WF very much.
UR gave out application fee waivers to everybody on the tour. If my D ultimately decided that small schools were for her, I would have had her apply to UR and then revisit the school to get another look. Sometimes you see things differently the second time around. She didn’t want to apply to any schools with fewer than about 3000 students.
@citymama9 - I can add some of our personal thoughts on those schools too. Between S1 and S2 we also visited all the usual Southern suspects - Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, Richmond, Vanderbilt, Elon, UGA, etc. In the end, S1 ended up at Vanderbilt and S2 at Wake. These schools all have lots of cross applicants!
S2 had a hard time deciding between his top 3 options, Richmond, Wake and Boston College (the other direction, I know). Although Wake and Richmond are similar, our subsequent visits helped fish-out the differences that helped our son make his final decision. These are simply our family’s observations and YMMV!
First off, Wake is a National University, not an LAC like Richmond. But, in our opinion, the perfect hybrid of a top-notch research institution with a smaller, LAC feel. Secondly, the campus “feel” was different. Richmond has a smaller student population but their campus (absolutely gorgeous) felt almost too big for the 2900 or so students. On all of our visits, we never felt like it was “bustling” and that bothered our son. Wake’s campus always felt vibrant and busy which he loved. Of course, Wake has more students (about 5k) but I think the campuses have about the same acreage. Also, Wake requires all students to live on campus for 3 years giving it that residential campus feel which may add to the energy. Lastly, and this was from an 18 year old’s perspective, Richmond (at the time) housed freshman in single-sex dorms. My son thought that was odd!
In regards to Greek life, I am not so sure they are very different. A quick look at Richmond’s website states that 52% of women and 34% of men are involved in Greek life. Wake breaks it up by semesters, but the percentages are similar.
All these schools are great - you really can’t go wrong!
I can tell you one way…they both have red brick similar style buildings. My kid HATED those. We went to Richmond and she hated it. When we got to Wake, she said the same thing she said at Richmond “I don’t need to get out of the car. I don’t like it.”
In both cases, she made that comment based on what the buildings looked like.
According to College Navigator data from fall 2015, WFU has 72% white students, and UR has 58% .white students. In case you have not used it, there is lots of good info for comparing colleges, website here: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
I have a UR graduate as well as a current junior at UR, and on our many visits, we have encountered a fairly diverse student body. My Ds have friends come from a wide range of backgrounds/cultures. My kids are not involved in greek life, but have friends who are, and the sororoties and fraternities have buildings for social events but are not residential. UR also has a new president this year, Dr. Ronald Crutcher, who is African American, and part of his mission is to continue to increase diversity and help UR be even more accessible to URM and low income students. My personal observation is that there has been a lot of progress in these areas over the last 5 years.
One of my Ds applied to both Wake Forest and U of Richmond. She thought the feel was similar, campus wise and academically. WFU is larger, with more graduate students along with medical programs, around 7800 total students, 4800 undergrads. UR has around 4200 total, 3300 undergrads. Both campuses are attractive (if you like red brick buildings typical of southern schools, lol).
At UR, 90% of undergrads live on campus, most of them for 4 years, which I think helps build a good sense of community. There are really nice on campus apartments that most of the upper class men live in. Freshman dorms are single sex, but there are plenty of opportunities to socialize outside of the dorms, neither of my Ds thought it was a negative.
UR’s campus is relatively large to its student body, 350 acres. On our many visits, there have been times when it is more quiet than others. My recent graduate lived in an on campus apartment near the intramural athletic fields, always lots of students and activity in that area. On my many college visits with 3 kids, I have learned there are many factors that affect how a campus feels, size, weather (rainy visits left the worst impressions), time of day, day of the week, etc, knowledge of tour guide, etc. Chatting with students, sitting in on a class or two, attending an athletic event, eating in the dining hall are good ways to evaluate the feel as a potential student, if you can work them into a visit.
We preferred the Richmond area to Winston Salem, it just seemed to have more going on, had access to downtown areas, especially the fun Carytown area fairly close to campus, with great restaurants, museums, parks, outdoor activities, etc., My Ds had/have no car, but getting off campus has never seemed to be an issue. They have friends with cars, or use campus shuttle service, uber, or zip cars.
UR has an Amtrak stop less than 5 miles from campus, and that was a big plus for us, since we will live along the north east Amtrak corridor. It has been incredibly convenient to get them home for visits, and they have been able to travel to Philadelphia, DC, and NYC easily, too. The Richmond airport is about 30 minutes from campus.
Interviews carry weight for admissions at WFU, and are very important for merit aid consideration. Based on my D’s stats, my D met and interviewed with a member of WFU’s scholarship committee when we visited. UR also has interviews, but they are informational only, they are not considered for admissions.
Our tour guide at WF told us it was 50% Greek. There is no Greek housing and students live in the dorms. I thought this would bother my daughter, who had no interest in Greek life, but she liked the idea. She thought it felt less exclusionary.
It sounds like S. Carolina’s honors program is great. I’ve seen some lists lately (not clear exactly how they do their rankings) that rank the honors programs at Clemson and UGA higher than